Battery-Powered apparatus for holding and energizing one or more electric transducers are well known and include flashlights, laser pointers, and electrically powered tools, to name a few examples.
Prior-art apparatus with rechargeable batteries for powering one or more electric light sources or other transducers either exposed transducers to battery charging currents, especially if the user accidentally turned on a transducer energizing switch, or imposed charging current limitations by charging the batteries through a flashlight filament or other active electric transducer part, or required the provision of special isolated electrodes, wires and the like for feeding battery charging currents through apparatus parts, or exposed battery chargers to shorting through faulty positioning of switches on the apparatus, or had two or more of such drawbacks.
There also is a need for improved switching equipment that can handle selective switching of transducer energizing circuits and of battery charging circuits in battery powered apparatus, and that can perform other switching functions.
There similarly is a need for improved switching equipment that can handle selective energization of at least two electric transducers or other loads.
Especially hand-held light sources with two filaments or lamps typically will produce a well-focused narrow beam from one filament and a very poorly focused irregular beam with dark rings and spots from the other filament, whereas the need is to produce not only a well-focused narrow beam from the higher power lamp, but also a well-focused broad beam 15 from the lower powered lamp.
There also is a need for improved transducer mounts or housing in battery-powered apparatus.
With prior-art flashlights, it is often difficult to retain a well-focused light output when a light source is replaced. Also prior-art flashlights often are impaired by a deteriorating performance because of progressively corroding switch contacts and battery terminal contacts.